Month: September 2018

Here we have – another rocking collection of one of a kind stone pendants – hand-shaped, each one unique in shape and pattern. Lapis Lazuli – as I have been known to remark – is the most beautiful stone on the planet, and has been considered so by many people for thousands of years. You may quibble if you like, but … 😉 And if you prefer cabochons to pendants – sit tight – we’ll have a bunch of those coming up in a few weeks too. These are OOAK – One Of A Kind – so don’t let them …

When I started thinking about my September 2018 Bead Mat Update, I thought that I really hadn’t accomplished much this month. But I was wrong! During the “Back to Class” event, earlier this month, I played with the Freeform Peyote Bracelet, that I had started in my last class. I need to decide on a closure of some type. I think one of my bead embroidered buttons, will finish it off nicely. Rose Gold Plated Hematite rounds, pair nicely with these Czech 6/0’s, to make a simple necklace. This one is around 30″ long, and will look maaavelous dahling, with …

October is a time when I ‘inhale’ inspiration. Colours of leaves. The scent of wood smoke. The clear blue of the sky. Smiles of children in their Halloween costumes. The taste of Thanksgiving turkey. The texture of a cozy woolen sweater. It isn’t a period of transition like November, when we start to get ready for Christmas and other holidays. October is simply a time to ‘be’. Our early-October classes and open sessions will help you direct your inspiration toward projects. Our open sessions (in beading, kiln enamelling, and lampworking) are perfect times to work on in-progress projects or to …

20% off the store (mostly – the fine print is here) continues to Sep 26 … Do you Spook? Are you a Hallow-weenie? Are you wearing black just until something darker comes along? Does your ideal house perch on top of a hill with owls and spooky trees? Owls – check. Choose this gothy owl with spooky wings, or these rather more menacing looking Grrrr – owls. Search here for all our owls – we have an impressive collection – ignoring all the Howlite that comes up in the search as well … O_o. Spooky trees – check. We have …

You don’t know what you’re missing, if you’ve never worked with beads and felt! Okay, beads on their own are undoubtedly delicious, but there’s an added something special, when you stitch them onto felt. No, not craft felt silly, but richly textured wool felt! It’s absolutely delightful!!! I love working with wool felt! It started off with a simple, wet felting play date with friends! Then I combined some of those pieces with fibre, beads, free motion, and hand stitching. A few were sold, but others remain in my possession. Pre-beading obsession, if you please! This piece of felt was …

Classes an integral part of BeadFX. Our instructors love to teach and enthusiastically share their knowledge to students. We asked our instructors what tips they can give to students to make their learning experience better – and we got lots of answers! Some of the suggestions are presented here; others will follow in future posts. Be on time – even a little early Arriving a little early lets you take a breath, find a seat and get settled. “Respect the instructor and the other students, by planning to arrive on time,” requests Anne Marie Desaulniers who specializes in mixed media. …

Had some inquiries about the Link Bead necklace that I tossed a picture of up on Facebook. The pattern for a bracelet is here: http://blog.johnbead.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Link-bead-LR-copy.pdf The pattern for the bracelet calls for 3 x 24 beads, and says it is 8.5 inches, but figure a part of that is the clasp – so say the bead portion is 7 inches, if you wanted to do a 21 inch necklace – then you would need about 225 beads. A tube is about 40 beads. The necklace is an ombre effect, shading from white to clear to cream to antiqued …

Theses are the videos that I couldn’t get to upload last night. Some of them are as long as 30 seconds! The video shows the sparkle much better. We could make some assumptions that the appeal of Swarovski comes from movement – that static pictures alone do not do it justice. Hope you get some inspiration from these!

Canada Post is now in a position to strike on Sep 27. Will they, or won’t they? Whatever they do, you should plan ahead. So we are having a sale – 20% off everything* – so that you can stock up now before you can’t get your stuff delivered. BTW – a strike will make no difference to our American friends, but you can still get in on the savings. BUT – because we didn’t want to hold them up, we’re still adding the new Link beads to the website – so you have new stuff that IS on sale! …

Ok – here we go with part 3 of impressions and tidbits from the Swarovski launch. Next up is the “Metallic Cap Pendant.” This is a pear-shaped drop bead, with a light chrome effect on a large portion of the pendant, over about 1/3 of the top, giving it the appearance of having a metallic bead cap custom fitted. The coating is just on one side, so it looks a bit more ethereal from the back. Still cool, however. Currently – just in Lt Chrome, nothing in gold. Now here’s a thing that has some cool potential. The pointed chaton, …